Oregon State University
Student Affairs Assessment Council
Agenda and Minutes
April 11, 2003
Attendance: Rebecca Sanderson, Larry Roper, Eric Hansen, Jo Frederic, Beth Dyer, Gary
Beach, Lisa Hoogesteger, Nita Phillips, Kent Sumner, Melinda Shell
Introductions
Thoughts on membership/what you hope for/expect: The following are samples of the
ideas that people shared regarding their hopes/expectations for the Assessment Council: share
data, support division-wide assessment, develop some commonalities, be an assessment nerd,
learning more, continue the momentum, thinking together about what is important, setting and
agenda for assessment—what do we want to get from this process, building a culture of
assessment—a design for living with assessment, community of assessment, be successful in
assessment and use it to be successful in what we do, nurture the consistent effort
Charge, Membership, Meetings: Copies of these were distributed. They can also be found
on the Student Affairs Research and Evaluation website:
http://oregonstate.edu/admin/student_affairs/research/res_introduction.html
Current Division-wide Assessment Initiatives: The following are the current division-wide
assessments being done:
-CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey) OSU participated in this
survey in 1967 and then again in 2001 and 2002. We are also registered to administer the
survey again in the summer of 2003. This survey is administered during the summer START
advising and orientation program. The 2002 report can be found on the web page listed in the
previous item.
-NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement). We call it the “NESSIE.” NSSE was first
used by OSU in 2002. This is a survey that is administered to first year students and senior
students in late February, March, and early April. It assesses the degree to which these
students are engaged in good educational practices. The 2002 NSSE report can be obtained
from Rebecca. We are also participating in the 2003 NSSE and that data is currently being
collected.
-FSSE (Faculty Survey of Student Engagement). OSU had the opportunity to participate in this
survey at no cost this year. The same folks who do the NSSE are piloting the FSSE this year.
We have partnered with Leslie Burns (Academic Affairs) for this survey. Data is currently being
collected. We hopefully will be able to look at the faculty results on the FSSE and the student
results on the NSSE and see if there are any comparisons to be made.
-YFCY (Your First College Year). This survey will be administered the middle of May this year.
It is designed to go with the CIRP. Some of the questions are the same or similar to the CIRP.
This should give us some data to compare how the students were when they arrived and how
they are near the end of their first year. Like the CIRP the YFCY asks for attitudes, behaviors,
hopes, etc. for the first year in college.
Gary Beach reported on two surveys being done in Academic Affairs: The annual Alumni
Survey which is funded by OUS. This is a telephone survey where the people doing the
survey call alums until they get 700-800 folks willing to respond to the survey. This would
provide data on how our alumni view OSU, their education, etc.
University of Delaware Survey (not sure what the name was) however it was developed at the
U. of Delaware. This survey measures faculty activities outside of the classroom. Most of our
peers participate in this survey. It is due in August.
Organizing: How we will organize ourselves to accomplish the charge was discussed.
-Communication back to units and determining what is being done, how it is reported, how it is
used seemed to be one issue.
-Determining core purposes that connect all programs – are there things we should be
assessing in every unit?
-Communication systems for the council, for departments who do not have reps on the council,
and for the larger constituency
This is a topic that we will likely revisit often in order to stay focused in our efforts.
YFCY project: Rebecca asked for volunteers to help administer the YFCY survey. A
scheduled was distributed with the notation that for the HHS classes, we will begin the survey
administration about 20-25 minutes after the start of class. The HDFS classes will have the
survey administered at the beginning of class. The following are the correct times for
administering the survey. Folks who can help are asked to contact Rebecca as soon as
possible.
Monday May 12 11:20- about noon MLM 26
Tuesday May 13 11:20-about noon MLM 26
Tuesday May 13 2:20-about 3:00 MLM 26
Tuesday May 13--3:30-about 4:00 MLM 26
Thursday, May 15--12:30- about 1:00 MLM 26
New web site: http://oregonstate.edu/admin/student_affairs/research/res_introduction.html
Rebecca announced the initiation of the new Research and Evaluation Web Site. Minutes,
reports, etc. will be posted on this web site regularly. Shirley Dodsworth is serving as the
excellent webmaster.
Meeting adjourned at 2:00pm.
Minutes reported by Rebecca.